A ‘magical’ day in Winchester

You know the day is going to be mag­i­cal when a real (sort of), live uni­corn shows up!

Saturday, October 18, was in fact a mag­i­cal day for pride and inclu­sion in Winchester. Folks from Clark County and beyond gath­ered on Depot Street (renamed “Dr. John Fryer Blvd.” for the day) to cel­e­brate, have fun, enjoy great enter­tain­ment, and grab some merch from ven­dors and nonprofits.

Over 750 guests showed up, accord­ing to orga­niz­ers. The weath­er was spec­tac­u­lar. Color was every­where. People from the LGBTQ+ com­mu­ni­ty, along with friends and allies, enjoyed a safe and fun day of com­mu­ni­ty and unity.

Some 60-plus booths were set up by ven­dors sell­ing their wares, non­prof­its offer­ing give­aways, ser­vices, and infor­ma­tion to the com­mu­ni­ty, as well as food and drink vendors.

Entertainment was pro­vid­ed by a line­up of tal­ent­ed musi­cians and per­form­ers, includ­ing Triple Crown Theater Group, Turtle Mountain Music, The Flaming Femme, and head­lin­er Zach Day.

In addi­tion to the cer­e­mo­ni­al renam­ing of the street for the day, an offi­cial procla­ma­tion from Mayor Jo Ellen Reed was read by city com­mis­sion­er Hannah Toole, pro­claim­ing the day as “Dr. John E. Fryer Day” to hon­or the late Winchester native who was instru­men­tal in the effort to acknowl­edge the rights of LGBTQ Americans. His efforts led to the American Psychiatric Association revers­ing its stand on homo­sex­u­al­i­ty as a men­tal ill­ness in 1973.

One attendee explained their rea­son for attending.

“I’m just so proud of Winchester for doing this,” they said. “It fills my heart with joy to see peo­ple com­ing togeth­er peace­ful­ly to cel­e­brate us. I see friends and allies and queer folks dressed in all kinds of dif­fer­ent cloth­ing, just being their authen­tic selves. And no one is both­ered by any of it.”

Another said, “I’m not gay, but I’m a firm believ­er in cel­e­brat­ing with them… just enjoy­ing one another’s com­pa­ny in a safe space. This is so great!”

A woman who lives in near­by Paris relat­ed that she was “jeal­ous” of Winchester for hav­ing a Pride fes­ti­val and that she hoped Paris would host one soon.

One of the high­lights was the pre­sen­ta­tion of “Community Star Awards,” designed to rec­og­nize indi­vid­u­als or orga­ni­za­tions that have made a major impact on advanc­ing pride and inclu­siv­i­ty in Clark County. Awards were pre­sent­ed for past, present, and future work.

Tiffani Hays and Andi Bouchat were rec­og­nized for found­ing the Winchester Pride & Inclusion Festival three years ago and for run­ning it the first two years. As one board mem­ber of A Life Worth Celebrating said, “We stand on the shoul­ders of these two pio­neer­ing people.”

The “present” hon­orees were Lisa Bush and her board, rep­re­sent­ing All Voices Reading Room, for their work in pro­vid­ing a safe and com­fort­able place to read or check out from a col­lec­tion of hun­dreds of books about diver­si­ty, equi­ty, and inclusion—particularly LGBTQ+ and African American topics.

For the future award, Allistar Stamper, a stu­dent at George Rogers Clark High School, was honored. 

So many peo­ple and orga­ni­za­tions came togeth­er on short notice to put this event togeth­er. The title spon­sor, Humanists of Winchester, donat­ed funds, and sev­er­al mem­bers vol­un­teered to help orga­nize before and dur­ing the fes­ti­val. Other spon­sors and part­ners includ­ed Crystal Coven Mystic Cottage, All Voices Reading Room, New Vista, Tom & Mike’s Farm, 2 Dudes Baking, WinCity Media, Bluegrass Parenting Solutions, and Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

The event was orga­nized by a new non­prof­it, A Life Worth Celebrating. The orga­ni­za­tion is ded­i­cat­ed to advanc­ing inclu­sion, edu­ca­tion, and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Crase Wilcoxson is the founder and exec­u­tive coör­di­na­tor of ALWC. It was his ener­gy, enthu­si­asm, and orga­ni­za­tion­al and lead­er­ship skills that helped bring togeth­er the 30 or so vol­un­teers who made this event such a tremen­dous success.

Crase had this to say after the event.

“To every ven­dor, non­prof­it, spon­sor, vol­un­teer, and guest who showed up — this festival’s suc­cess is owed entire­ly to you. Together, we showed just how inclu­sive, lov­ing, and com­pas­sion­ate this town tru­ly is.”

Photo gallery

The great pho­tos in this gallery were tak­en by Jon Paul Martin of Whiskey & Wile Photography. The not-so-great ones were tak­en by Pete Koutoulas. (There are many more of the great pho­tos here: https://www.facebook.com/whiskeyandwiles.)